Jacksonville City Council votes 11-8 to approve incentives for downtown grocery store project

Jacksonville City Council members voted yes Tuesday night to give developers incentives for a downtown grocery store project. It was a close vote, with 11 council members voting yes and 8 voting no.

Action News Jax first told you last week that the City Finance Committee was split on the decision. That split vote came after Amendment 3 passed, with concerns about future city budget cuts. It sent the vote to the full council Tuesday night.

The original ask was for a $50 million incentive package, with $28.5 million coming from the general fund. Developers told Action News Jax last week in a statement that the project could not be completed without the city. Tonight, they asked for $9 million from the general fund and said they would use funding from the DIA and other projects to meet their goal.

The grocery store would offset a prominent food desert in the city. Both residents and council members were split in their support. Some support giving the incentives, and some were still concerned about the city’s spending.

“I urge you guys, you know, to vote pragmatically on it and not emotionally on something that we all know will be great for the city,” one speaker said.

“These companies have enough resources to make their projects successful. Stop giving away our tax money for all these incidents because they’re going to be downtown anyway,” another speaker said.

As far as next steps, the Downtown Investment Authority wants people to know that this money would not go directly to Publix. It would go to the mixed-use development where the grocery store would go.

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